1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and the like to evaluate time efficiency of a pointing device intuitively from a viewpoint of a user who uses a system.
Further, the present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and the like for evaluating real-time nature of a system as a whole in a system in which data input from a pointing device having an operation unit to move a pointer in a plurality of directions such as a joystick, for example, is supplied through a transmission path of a predetermined protocol.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a personal computer, game equipment and the like, a pointing device (such as a mouse, for example) is widely used as an input device to specify an input position and coordinates on a screen.
From the past, a breadth of a range where a pointer can be moved by a given amount of operation, a resolution (minimum moving distance of a pointer), a speed with which a pointer follows data input from a pointing device and the like have been used as indices to indicate the performance of the pointing device itself. Those indices can also be the ones to show the operational performance of the pointer displayed on a screen when the pointing device is directly connected to a computer and the like.
However, in a system that uses a pointing device as an input device, a user confirms a movement result of a pointer on a screen while operating the pointing device, and determines whether to continue or to suspend the operation of the pointing device based on that movement result. Specifically, the following work is performed by feeding back the movement result of the pointer on the screen.
Then, in the system that uses the pointing device as the input device, the time efficiency of the work, that is, whether the user was able to perform efficiently enough the following work by feeding back the movement result of the pointer on the screen becomes important instead of the performance of the pointing device itself.
When existing indices of the pointing device itself are combined to perform evaluation, an evaluation criterion becomes complicated with respect to the time efficiency and a validity of the evaluation result becomes not easy to understand for anyone except a specialist in charge of the evaluation. In addition, it is difficult to express sufficiently whether the evaluated time efficiency is appropriate for a user who uses that system.
Particularly, in a system in which a transmission path of a specific communication protocol exists between a pointing device and a device that processes an input value thereof, and in a system in which a heavy load is constantly imposed on a CPU that processes an input value thereof, evaluation indices such as communication performance of the transmission path and a load factor of the CPU are required separately, and a know-how is needed in order to evaluate the time efficiency from all indices comprehensively.
On the other hand, an apparatus in which a coefficient indicating a characteristic of a pointing device is input as a parameter when calculating an operability index has been proposed in the past as the apparatus to evaluate an operability of a screen layout of a GUI that uses a pointing device, for example (refer to Published Japanese Patent Application No. H7-56730). However in this apparatus, evaluation is performed using time required for moving a pointer to a button of an operational object on a GUI screen as the operability index, which is not the evaluation of the time efficiency of whether the user was able to carry out efficiently enough the following work by feeding back the movement result of the pointer.
Besides, technology to evaluate the time efficiency of such pointing device has not been proposed in the past.
Next, there exists a joystick as a kind of pointing device. As is generally known, the joystick has an operation bar capable of being inclined in a plurality of directions (for example, four directions of up, down, left, right, or eight directions of up, down, left, right, and upper left, lower left, upper right, lower right that are inbetween thereof), and by inclining this operation bar a moving direction of a pointer on a screen is specified.
As a characteristic of this joystick, though it is easy to be operated in comparison to a mouse and the like, it is pointed out that the resolution is low (minimum moving distance of a pointer is large). Particularly, in the joystick inclining in eight directions, the resolution of the intermediate four directions is low in comparison to that of the four directions of up, down, left, right.
When a pointer is moved using the pointing device, typically a user confirms a movement result of the pointer on a screen while operating a pointing device and determines whether to continue or to suspend the operation of the pointing device based on the movement result.
Therefore, the pointer can be stopped at a position intended by the user in the case where the operation of the pointing device is reflected on real time in a screen display, however, in other cases, the pointer tends to move beyond the position intended by the user.
Further, since the resolution is low in case of the joystick as described above, in the case where the operation is not reflected on real time in the screen display, the pointer moves far beyond the position intended by the user.
Therefore, in a system that uses the joystick as the input device, it is important whether “real-time nature” exists or not, that is, whether the operation of the joystick is reflected on real time in the screen display.
For example, the apparatus proposed in the above-described Published Japanese Patent Application No. H7-56730 is the one that evaluates the time required for moving the pointer to the button of the operational object on the GUI screen as the operability index, and is not the one that evaluates whether the operation of the pointing device is reflected on real time in the screen display.
Besides, technology to evaluate the real-time nature of the image display with respect to such joystick has not been proposed.
Hereupon, as the system that uses a joystick as the input device, there also exists such a system in which data input from a joystick is supplied to a personal computer, game equipment and the like through a transmission path of a specific protocol as well as a system in which data input from a joystick is sent directly to a personal computer, game equipment and the like.
Further, in the latter system, the real-time nature of the screen display receives more influence from the communication performance in the transmission path rather than the performance of the joystick itself. Accordingly, in the latter system, it is necessary that this real-time nature can be evaluated as the whole system including the transmission path.